Covering shield mount for safety helmets



Aug. 17, 1948. w. c. MOELLER COVERING SHIELD MOUNT FOR SAFETY HELMETS Filed May 7, 1945 A TTORNEY Patented Aug. 17, 1948 COVERING SHIELD MOUNT FOR SAFETY HELMETS William C. Moeller, Kansas City, Mo., assignor to A. F. Parmalee,

doing business as United States Safety Service 00., Kansas City, Mo.

Application May 7, 1945, Serial No. 592,332

1. Claim. 1

This invention relates to protecting devices and has for its primary aim to provide a face covering shield and helmet assembly, the interconnecting means whereof is so designed and arranged as to facilitate attachment regardless of slight mal-adjustments that may occur, or in spite of the slight deformities occurring from time-to-time.

This invention has for its primary aim the pro- Vision of novel and unique means for mounting a swingable face shield to a helmet, which means permits assembly of the parts with convenience and speed, and with positive assurance that the component parts will be accurately interengageable despite the variations in contour due to the peculiar nature of the shield and helmet with which the mounting means is associated.

Other aims of the invention will appear during the course of the following specification, referring to the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. l is a side elevational view of a helmet and face shield assembly, having means for interconnecting the same, that is made in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary detailed sectional view taken on line IIII of Fig, l; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line III--III of Fig. 2.

Heretofore face shields have been swingably mounted upon helmets through brackets or the like, which present difficulty to the user or to the manufacturer thereof, because of the tendency of the helmet and shield to alter their form due to use or because of tolerances allowed by virtue of the character of the substance from which the helmet and shield is made. In other words, it has been hard to provide fastening means between the shield and helmet where two points of interconnection on the helmet have been necessary to cooperate with a similar number of points of connection on the bracket or a portion of the shield. The curvature encountered and the peculiar characteristics of the materials renders it virtually impossible to maintain alignment and register of the two points.

Removability of the shield is also an important feature when producing combination helmet and shield structures, and because the point of juncture between the two parts just mentioned, should be a pivotal joint, quick detachment is not pOssible because of the type of joint normally required at the pivotal connection. This invention provides a specially formed assembly for removably affixing the shield to the helmet without manipulating the pivota1 point and with as- 2 surance that attachment and removal of the shield may be accomplished with ease.

In the form of the invention chosen for illustration the numerals I0 and I2 designate the helmet and shield respectively, the latter being swingable to the position shown in dotted and full lines of Fig. 1, because of the joint that is broadly designated by the numeral 14. This joint forms no part of this invention, for it has been used before.

The arm I6, however, is a part of the mounting means embodying the invention, and this arm is offset laterally as illustrated in Fig. 2, and perforated as shown in Fig. 3, to present two slots IS in each of which is mounted one part 20 of a snap fastener.

Helmet l0 carries companion parts 22 of the snap fasteners and because of the double point suspension of arm [6, it cannot swing about the center of either of the two fasteners and will be maintained in a position with respect to helmet I0 as clearly illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. When shield 12 is raised from a position in front of the face of the wearer, arm l6 will not move.

The curvature of helmet Ill renders it virtually impossible to maintain companion parts 22 a distance apart that remains constant. This problem is present not only in the manufacture of the shield and helmet assembly, but during its use. Parts 20 therefore, are loosely mounted in slots I8 to move along a path of travel on a line interconnecting companion parts 22. This line is straight and parallel with the longitudinal axis of arm l6.

Parts 20 therefore, may move toward or from each other as they engage companion parts 22 and after these last mentioned parts are once placed, it is unnecessary to remove them to alter the distance therebetween. The shiftability of parts 20 will compensate for such slight variation in distance between parts 22 a may be established through the use of helmet l0, and arm 16 need not be formed in an effort to hold parts 20 in a condition to positively center over their companion parts 22,

There is an arm IE on each side of helmet in and the user may quickly snap the shield assembly in place by interlocking all four of the snap fasteners, each of which comprises a fixed companion part 22 and a shiftable part 20.

Advantages arising from this structure are obvious, and while one form of the invention has been illustrated and described, other forms may be produced to embody the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is thereof, each of said slots and the said pivotal" connection between the arm and the shield being on a substantial median longitudinal line through the arm, the major axes respectively of said slots in the arm being on said longitudinal line; and a pair of fasteners forming connection between the arm and said helmet, said fasteners each having a part rigidly secured to the helmet and a part irremovably mounted in a respective one of said slots in the arm, said part of each fastener on the helmet being separable from the corresponding part thereof on the arm whereby the said arm and shield carried thereby are rndered removable from the helmet, said parts of the fasteners 0n the arm being slidable toward and from each other within their respective slots whereby the same may be aligned with the parts on the helmet when the arm is attached thereto.

WILLIAM C. MOELLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 248,781 Norris Oct. 25, 1881 525,039 Wolgemuth et a1. Aug. 28, 1894 1,416,848 Lightfield May 23, 1922 1,841,054 Powers Jan. 12, 1932 "2,153,714 Fleming et a1 Apr. 11, 1939 2,167,969 Bowers Aug. 1, 1939 2,194,492 Bowers Mar. 26, 1940 

